Description
Churchill’s Lives: Sizing Up Greatness
Winston Churchill won the Nobel Prize for Literature for “his mastery of historical and biographical description.” Nowhere is that mastery more evident than in Great Contemporaries (1937).
Written in the decade before Churchill became prime minister, these brilliant portraits of the giants of his age offer wisdom for our own. This brand-new illustrated edition of Great Contemporaries profiles towering figures ranging from Franklin Roosevelt, Adolf Hitler, Lawrence of Arabia, and Leon Trotsky to Charlie Chaplin, H. G. Wells, Rudyard Kipling, and George Bernard Shaw.
With his keen powers of observation and knack for the telling anecdote, Churchill not only traces the character of his subjects but also puts his finger on what makes a man great. To be sure, not all the figures profiled here are equally great, and Churchill finds their limitations at least as revealing as their merits.
This handsome new edition of Great Contemporaries—the first in twenty years—includes five essays that have never appeared in any previous version, more than thirty photographs, and an enlightening introduction and annotations by noted Churchill scholar James W. Muller. It brings back Churchill’s unmatched insights and unforgettable prose for a new generation of readers and leaders.
Winston S. Churchill (1874–1965) served twice as prime minister of the United Kingdom, held numerous political and cabinet positions, fought in wars on four continents, painted more than five hundred canvases, and wrote more than forty books.
